


Apples and trees

by Roshwen



Category: Leverage, The Librarians
Genre: AU for now but who knows, Gen, Humor, So Ezekiel is Sophie Devereaux' kid, because why the fuck not, family fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-25
Updated: 2017-10-25
Packaged: 2019-01-23 02:31:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12496580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Roshwen/pseuds/Roshwen
Summary: Okay, so that one night of fun with a very handsome Korean art dealer might have had some unexpected consequences. Now Sophie just has to make sure her kid grows up with a nice, non-criminal family and becomes an honest citizen.As if he would.





	Apples and trees

**Author's Note:**

> Okay. So. Yeah. Ever since I read that we'll see 'the Patron Saint of Thieves' in season 4, the way Sophie says that line at the end of the Miracle Job has been haunting me. Couple that with the fact that we are also going to see Ezekiel's 'career criminal mother' next season and you get... this. Whatever the fuck this is.

Sophie paced up and down the tiny hotel room, alternately staring out of the window and glaring at the plastic stick she held in her hand. It was probably nothing. It was probably something they put in the food here that had made her throw up every morning for the past two weeks. And the fact that she was three days late on her period was probably due to the fact that she had been traveling non stop for months now, so her system was probably messed up. That was probably it. That one very fun night with a very handsome Korean art dealer in Seoul about a month ago probably had nothing to do with it. It was probably just the food, and the traveling and everything else that was making her feel so off. Honestly, she didn't even know why she had bothered buying this test, let alone taking it, because (at the risk of repeating herself) it was probably _not that._

God, how long did these things take?

* * *

Okay, so that one night of fun with a very handsome Korean art dealer might have had some unexpected consequences. But she wouldn't be Sophie Devereaux if she'd let herself be set back by a silly little pregnancy. All she had to do was find a place to stay for a month or seven (thank God her latest heist had left her with enough cash on hand to lie low for a while) and decide where she was going to put the baby. She had briefly considered having it removed, but for some reason all kinds of instincts she didn't know she possessed had rebelled at the thought, so that was not going to be an option. The thought of keeping the baby and raising it herself had frightened her even more, so she figured she just had to find a country with a nice foster system (not the UK, because she was too well known there, and not the US because her child was _not_ going to be an American if she could help it).

In the end, she settled for Australia. Far away from anyone she knew, but still part of the UK so he could have the best of both worlds really. He would grow up with a nice, non-criminal family (two parents, one brother, one sister and a dog, for instance), have a decent education, go to university and become a doctor or a lawyer or something, an honest citizen, and he would do alright.

* * *

Fifteen years later, she is standing in the British Museum in London and she is checking out the security measures around a very pretty Ming Dynasty vase that would look just lovely on the mantelpiece of her safe house in Madrid, when someone catches her eye. He is very young, but the way he carries himself and the looks he steals at the cameras and the security guards all scream _fellow thief._ Then he catches her eye and she realizes she has been staring at him because not only is he obviously a thief, he looks _familiar_.

She only realizes who he is after he has flashed her an enormous, toothpaste model worthy grin and disappeared into the crowd. Apparently her kid takes a little more after his mother than she anticipated.

* * *

Because Ezekiel finds out, of course. After he teaches himself to hack into government databases without getting caught, the first thing he does is find out who his birth mother is. And when he discovers that the identity of said birth mother is as false as ((anything)), well. This looks like the perfect mystery for a budding computer genius to solve. It takes him a while, though. All aliases he finds are rock solid, and trudging through one fake identity after another, he gains a level of respect for whoever this women might be that _almost_ drowns out the resentment of being left with a chronically unemployed father, a mother who tried her best but whose best just never was good enough, and a big brother who tried to beat him up whenever he thought their parents weren't looking, which was pretty often.

Almost.

When he finally finds out his mother is the legendary Sophie Devereaux, art thief extraordinaire, he thinks he must have made some mistake somewhere. He triple checks everything, even considers starting again from scratch, because _Sophie Devereaux_ can't be his mother.

You see, when he wasn't looking for his mother, Ezekiel started looking into the greatest thieves of this age. Know your competition and all that. And he already knows going up against Sophie Devereaux would be one hell of a competition, which is why he wasn't planning on ever meeting her. Not for the first fifty years, anyway.

Looks like he is going to need to change plans.

* * *

After their two second meeting in the British Museum, he calls her. He knows she's seen him, and she doesn't sound surprised when she answers the phone with: 'You are supposed to be in Australia.'

'Didn't work out,' he replies. Because well, it didn't. 'And I think we need to talk.'

They meet up a week later, in a nondescript coffee shop in Croydon, of all places. There, Sophie tells Ezekiel why she gave him up, but does not offer any apology. Ezekiel tells Sophie about his life in Australia, which sucked, but does not lash out at her for leaving him. They both firmly believe that the past is in the past and the only thing that matters now, is what they are going to do next.

'Do you think we should team up?'

'Uh-uh. I work alone. Keep in touch, though?'

'Definitely. Now that I know where to find you, you're not going to get rid of me that easily.'

* * *

So they keep in touch. Sometimes they touch base every week, other times they go months without any sign of life. They're never worried, though. They're both so well known by now, that they would hear it immediately if something happened. Which is how...

'NATE FORD?'

'Honey, keep your voice down, _please.'_

'Mother, _please_ tell me you are not working with _Nate Ford._ He's the _enemy_! _'_

'He's not the enemy, Ezekiel. Not anymore, anyway. I trust you know what happened to him?'

'Of course I do. Everyone knows.'

'Well, then trust me to say it's changed him. He's not the same guy who chased you all over Europe to get back at that Van Gogh you nicked five years ago.'

'Just... be careful. Please.'

'Always, dear.'

(When Nate asks who she's talking to, Sophie shrugs and tells him it's her landlord. Nate doesn't buy it for a second, but he's learned not to pry. Too much.)

* * *

A couple of years later, whispers are going around that Ezekiel Jones has disappeared. At first, Sophie laughs at the rumors because her boy is probably planning something big, but when he doesn't answer her phone calls, she grows worried. She even has Hardison search high and low for him, without success. The only thing he finds is that Ezekiel is popping up all over the world without ever passing through an airport, which is just impossible. Must be a glitch in his facial recognition software. She doesn't say this out loud, though, because Hardison is _very_ touchy about his software. But she worries, and worries, and as time goes by, she worries even more. Even Nate notices something is off, and she tells him an old friend of her might be in trouble (which is kind of the truth. See, she's learning). Just before Nate can call in the cavalry, though, her phone rings and she almost drops it when she sees the number.

'Don't _ever_ do that again, do you hear me?'

'Look, mum, I'm sorry alright? It's just...I've got a new gig. And it's kind of secret and kind of amazing and I'm not supposed to tell you anything about it but don't worry. I'm fine, I promise. And it's totally legal, too.'

'Are you _sure_ you're alright?'

'Yes mum, I'm sure. Just because I'm going legit doesn't mean I'm not still going to be me, you know.'

Sophie can hear the smug grin through the phone and decides Ezekiel is probably telling the truth.

* * *

Then Ezekiel asks if she wants to meet his team. The way he says _team_ reminds her of the way Parker and Hardison and Eliot now say _team,_ so she agrees to meet them in another coffee shop, somewhere in the outskirts of Portland. When she asks why they didn't just come to the Brewpub, Ezekiel just says that that would not be a good idea, and she'll find out why soon enough.

She understands immediately when he walks through the door, followed by a very cute redhead and...

'Jake Stone, ma'am. Pleasure.'

'You look... familiar.'

A slow grin and a twinkle in a pair of blue eyes. 'I think I'd remember meeting you, ma'am.'

Sophie smiles back and shakes her head, trying not to feel too disturbed by Eliot's face grinning up at her.

Ezekiel is watching the introduction with a fondness she doesn't remember seeing before. By now, it's pretty clear to Sophie that these people are not just his team but his partners, in every sense of the word.

'Mum, this is Cass.'

'Cassandra Cillian, nice to meet you.'

'Sophie Devereaux,' and she smiles and shakes hands with the redhead, trying not to notice the blush that is creeping up and clashing horrendously with the flaming hair. She didn't _mean_ to turn on the charm, but these people are obviously important to Ezekiel and so she needs them to like her. Ezekiel notices, obviously, but he doesn't say anything. Just rolls his eyes at her and tells Jake and Cassandra that she's his _mother,_ so if they could _please_ stop hitting on her, that would be great.

Stone's grin just grows wider. 'Sorry _mate.'_

Cassandra stage whispers into Ezekiel's ear. Unfortunately, she is not very good at it. 'She's so _pretty_!'

Ezekiel groans and covers his face with his hands. Sophie laughs and thinks _maybe everything will be alright after all._


End file.
